On Monday, January 6, more than 1,000 scientists gather
in Mohe, China, to observe a total eclipse of the sun.

On Tuesday, January 7, the 105th session of the U.S.
Congress begins.

On Wednesday, January 8, Monaco's Grimaldi dynasty
celebrates its 700th anniversary of rule.

On Thursday, January 9, political leaders of the 1980s
and '90s are scheduled to hold a seminar at UNESCO
headquarters in Paris on the foreign policy of the late
French President Francois Mitterrand. The event marks the
first anniversary of Mitterrand's death and
participants are to include Cuban President Fidel Castro,
Haiti's ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former European
Commission President Jacques Delors and former foreign
ministers Han Dietrich Genscher of Germany and David Owen of
Britain.

On Friday, January 10, A hearing is scheduled on a
motion for a stay in the O.J. Simpson child custody judgment
while the children's grandparents appeal the judge's
decision.

On this day

In 1477, Charles the Bold was defeated and killed by the Swiss at the Battle of Nancy in the Swiss-Burgundian Wars.

In 1757, Jean-Francois Damiens attempted to assassinate Louis XV of France as he was entering his carriage at Versailles. He was later executed.

In 1762, Elizabeth, empress of Russia, died and was succeeded by her nephew, Peter III.

In 1919, Spartacists in Berlin led by Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht attempted to take over the government and seized a number of buildings.

In 1925, Nellie Taylor Ross took up her post as governor of Wyoming and became the first woman governor.

In 1933, Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. president, died.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I met in Jerusalem, the first meeting of the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century.

In 1968, in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek succeeded Antonin Novotny as First Secretary of the Communist Party. His policy of democracy within a Communist framework led to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.

In 1969, Soviet interplanetary spacecraft Venus 5 was launched. Five days later, Venus 6 was launched. They reached Venus on May 16 and 17 respectively.

In 1993, oil poured onto the coast of northern Scotland's Shetland Islands after the 89,000-ton Liberian-registered Braer hit rocks in heavy seas. The tanker carried 84,500 tons of crude oil. A huge oil slick stretched 25 miles up the coast.

In 1994, former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, a Democratic party stalwart whose political career spanned nine presidencies, died in Boston.

In 1996, in Russia, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, admired in the West but reviled by Russian conservatives, resigned.

In 1996, Japan's Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama announced his resignation in a surprise move.

In 1996, Yahya Ayyash, the "Engineer," the elusive mastermind behind a wave of Islamic suicide bombings against Israel, was killed in Gaza, apparently by a booby-trapped cellular telephone.

Newslink

Rain may finally be tapering off in the Western United
States, but the flood waters are still trapping thousands. To
find out more about the situation and how you can help Click here.